Banking jobs

[Springbok]

Search for financial services jobs at eFinancialCareers

"Salaries for bankers in their early twenties are in the region of $70,000-$100,000 a year, according to a recent article in the Australian Financial Review, and young investment bankers are earning bonuses of around 50%-100%. The paper said Macquarie and UBS are the best payers, with graduate base salaries of $85,000. Students landing summer internships can command a pro rata salary of $75,000."

Edited November 2, 2006 by Springbok

[Helena G]

Dankie vir die info Springbok,

Het dit reeds in ons Oz Info Boekie geskryf, my man sal verseker hier iets kan kry!!

Good Luck met jou job searching!

Helena G

[Springbok]

Nog 'n bietjie nuus oor finance jobs:

Ozzies on top at Goldman

There are 18 much richer Australians this week, and it’s not down to a lottery win. Goldman Sachs JBWere has promoted18 people to become Australian managing directors (MDs) - nearly doubling the 22 it had. Rumour has it they’ll each be on at least US$1.5m (AU$2.0m). What's going on? Craig Drummond, Chief Operating Officer at Goldman Sachs JBWere Sydney says the appointments "reflect the depth of talent and the significant contribution this group has made during what has been a good year for the firm." Meanwhile, a GSJBW spokeswoman says they were rewards for the ''exceptional performance',' and a way of harnessing leadership skills for the company. ''It also shows you can have a dedicated career path within the firm.'' Matthew Gowan, senior manager Hays Banking, says it is a retention strategy, as well as a reward. After all, who’s going to leave with a pot of gold like this waiting? The disproportionate number of Goldman is a top-tier bank might have something to do with the promotion of legacy JBWere staff. After all, Goldman needs a strong distribution network in Australia, which is exactly what it got in buying JBWere. What better way to tie in JBW bankers than make them MD. Goldman has a history of promotions and "fantastic remuneration'' says John Noonan, Sydney bureau chief at Thomson Financial IFR. "They lock people in at director level. These banks exist to generate profit, and they reward their high-performers and try to keep them.'' Standard & Poor's New York has a wider view. It believes the rash of promotions springs from Australia's China-fuelled commodities boom and the explosion of financial institutions in Asia, all of which are hungry for bankers – many of whom live just south of the Equator.

Accountants’ drought in WA

Recruiters say demand for accountants is ratcheting up in the city of Perth. The capital of Western Australia is at the sharp end of the resources boom that’s underpinning the huge growth in the state’s economy. As a result, each of the Big Four accounting firms – KPMG, PwC, Ernst & Young and Deloitte – is facing a major battle to retain talent in the face of competition from mining groups. “They have a voracious appetite for people with good financial skills,” says Keith Jones, the managing partner of Deloitte’s WA business. “Some staff are being lured with salary increases of 40 per cent to 100 per cent more than their current package,” he added. Jones says Deloitte’s business in Perth has doubled in recent years, but its ability to grow further is constrained by an inability to find enough experienced executives. "We could probably take 10 people right now; managers and directors with six to 12 years' experience.” A spokeswoman for KPMG in Perth said the firm was also in the market for new executives and its ability to grow its business was also being hampered by the difficulty of getting new staff. The spokeswoman said executives with three to six years' experience, senior assistant managers, aged 25 to 27, were in most demand. In the 12 months to June, 2006, KPMG doubled its intake of 20 graduates to 40, and will further increase it to 50 this financial year.

Want to work in derivatives? Australia offers options (and futures)

It’s not exactly booming, but Australia’s job space for financial derivative specialists is steadily expanding. Demand for derivatives managers, traders and quantitative analysts is being driven primarily from the four major trading banks – ANZ, Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank and Westpac – and investment bank Macquarie. As investment product offerings become more sophisticated, the banks are increasingly seeking to hire experts in synthetic instruments based around interest rate, foreign exchange, equity and commodity options. “Little by little the market over here is growing,” says Rick Jansz, managing consultant, IT and financial markets, for BSI People, which is regularly recruiting in the derivatives area. “It’s a growing market over here, but obviously not as big as London, Europe or in Asia. There are a few banks looking for derivatives traders, sales people, quantitative analysts and others that have had some equities derivatives experience.” Technical derivatives specialists with skills in modelling and pricing are generally not in the running - unless they have a PhD in a quantitative discipline. While entry level positions in derivatives are generally in the £20,000 ($A50,000) range, an experienced derivatives operations manager can easily demand upwards of £50,000 ($A130,000) plus bonuses, which can range anywhere from 30% up to a staggering 200%. “We’ve been filling a number of derivatives roles with ANZ and National Australia Bank,” says Mathew McGilton , a consultant at recruitment firm Gemmell Ovenden Walsh. BSI People’s Jansz says Hong Kong and Singapore remain the power regional markets for derivatives job opportunities. "But Australia’s not a bad place because you’ve got still quite a bit of growth to come.”

[Springbok]

I guess this is good news for South Africans moving to Australia...

Michael Markiewicz, managing director of Australian search firm Carmichael Fisher, on why Australian bankers just can’t resist moving west.

As financial centres, Sydney and Melbourne may not be on a par with London or New York, but their status is rising. Australia is benefiting from its geographical closeness to Asia and from the likes of the AU$15.5bn Telstra share sale bonanza.

However, while Sydney’s financial star rises, some of Australia’s best and brightest young financiers continue to leave the country to work elsewhere. At any time there are over 1 million Australians overseas (that’s five per cent of the population). A huge 300,000 of them are in London. Why?

The main reason is the global shortage of talented candidates. In today’s market, talent shortages are widespread, with the result that companies that can’t find candidates locally will look for them elsewhere – even if that means the other side of the world. On a recent visit to Sydney, one UK headhunting company locked themselves in a hotel room and armed with the internal directories of a major law firm, telephoned everyone across the departments they wanted to target. They placed three people as a result.

Another factor is that however big Sydney and Melbourne get, they still lack the size and thrill of London and New York. The biggest deal doers in Australia therefore spend much of their time overseas – there are simply not enough assets to satisfy their appetites Down Under. Bigger markets also offer complexity, better experience, a stronger resume, and higher pay. The person earning £180,000 (AU$449,000) in the UK can expect to earn £100,000 (AU$250,000) in Australia.

Then there are the lifestyle factors. London may be more expensive than Sydney, but it offers proximity to Europe and dirt cheap flights to seeming countless exotic locations. It’s cheaper than ever to fly home for Christmas, even for friend’s weddings, and cheap telephone charges mean time spent in London is no longer equivalent to a complete separation from people back home. 25 years ago it cost £1 per minute to call Australia. Today it costs a few pence.

To cap it all, our experience suggests London’s banks positively relish the opportunity to employ Australians. They’re hard working and easygoing. This is unsurprising given many come to London to earn money for a period before heading back home. And in some industries retaining employees for a short period of time is seen as advantageous – London law firms, for example, are particularly keen on employing Australian lawyers whose short term contracts mean they won’t add to competition to join their partnership pools.

As a result, Australian talent will continue flowing overseas – however many Telstras there are in the years to come.